Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Grandfather Murong’s voice grew wildly excited.

“A measly zongzi dares to throw its weight around in front of an Earth Master.

“Sect Master Qiao, you deal with that zombie. I’ll just take a look at the burial goods in the coffin from the side. Won’t get in the way of your fight.”

A hand reached out of the coffin.

Grandfather Murong was getting on in years, and his eyesight wasn’t great, so he didn’t see clearly that the hand was red.

It was a hand formed from countless twisting, tangling Corpse Thread Worms. No bones, no muscle, no skin-only an endless mass of Corpse Thread Worms.

I was so scared my soul nearly left my body. I grabbed Grandfather Murong by the arm.

“Fight, my ass! Run!”

The passage wasn’t long. I dragged Grandfather Murong through it in a few strides, then shoved him into the opening and pushed him out hard. Two cries of “Ow!” rang from the other side.

Tomb Raider No. 1: “Who the hell rammed into me? Are you blind or what?!”

So it turned out the tomb raiders outside had seen that the two of us had been inside all this time without anything happening, and now that the tomb passage was open again, every one of them was itching to get into the Yellow Heart Timber Collection and dig up some treasure.

Bang!

The coffin lid was blasted into the air. I turned back and saw a red corpse standing up inside the coffin.

Calling it a corpse wasn’t quite right, either.

It was a humanoid monster made of countless Corpse Thread Worms twined together. One moment it looked human; the next, six or seven tendrils stretched out from it, shifting into all kinds of shapes in midair.

One of the tendrils reached toward us, stretching especially far before snapping apart in the air. A huge clump of Corpse Thread Worms fell to the ground, quickly twisted back into a ball, and crawled back into the coffin.

Tomb Raider No. 1 was still blocking the opening, cursing at Grandfather Murong to get out of the way.

Cold sweat poured down my back.

“Fine. You want in that badly? Then get in!”

I yanked Grandfather Murong back, leaned halfway into the hole, grabbed No. 1 by the hair, and dragged him into the passage. Then I stuffed Grandfather Murong back through and shouted sharply, “Murong Shan, move faster!”

Grandfather Murong still had no idea what had happened behind us. He was just instinctively a little afraid of me, and the second I snapped at him, he hurriedly crawled out on all fours.

After I threw No. 1 in, he landed on his butt. At first, he didn’t notice the coffin. Instead, he turned and saw the burial goods in the first side chamber, then rushed in, ecstatic.

“Holy shit, we’re rich!

“No. 3, No. 4, get in here, quick!”

No. 1 shouted the others’ names. Fortunately, Grandfather Murong had already climbed out and was guarding the opening for me. When the other tomb raiders tried to get in, he and Murong Yue stopped them, and the group started grappling with each other.

I threw several fire talismans into the passage, then dove into the wooden opening without looking back. Those fire talismans could only hold it back for a few seconds. Once we got out of the Yellow Heart Timber Collection, we still had to run for our lives.

The moment I jumped out of the opening, the tomb raiders surrounded us with axes in hand.

“What treasures did you get? Hand them over!”

“Get lost!”

I didn’t waste words on them. I kicked two of them over with one flying kick, then grabbed Murong Yue with one hand and Grandfather Murong with the other.

“Run!”

“No. 4, No. 5, hurry up! I’ve never seen this many good things in my life! Get in here!”

No. 1’s voice was warped with excitement. The other tomb raiders hesitated for a moment, then couldn’t be bothered with us anymore.

“Forget it. Let them run. Baldie and the others are outside, and they’ve got guns. Not like these people can get away.”

By the time we rushed onto the stairs, a shrill scream came from inside the Yellow Heart Timber Collection. No. 3 was clinging to the opening when, with a whoosh, something inside dragged his entire body in.

I saw a bright red tentacle probe out of the hole.

The tomb raiders screamed one after another and scrambled up the stairs, trampling over each other in their panic.

At the same time, countless rats surged in from outside, tumbling down the stairs.

The rats blocked us on the staircase.

These rats all had Corpse Thread Worms inside them. I didn’t dare act rashly. Remembering how they had been afraid of fire earlier, I gritted my teeth and, with trembling hands, took out two Nanming Lihuo Talisman talismans from Dragon-Tiger Sect.

This was the last of my reserve.

I threw the talismans down. With a whoomph, flames roared to life. The rats squeaked, still charging fearlessly into the tomb chamber, except they avoided me. I seized the chance and leapt up several steps.

The tomb raiders behind us were in complete chaos. Someone must have triggered a mechanism, because the sealing stone overhead rumbled, visibly starting to close again.

I was fast and had already made it outside, but Murong Yue was still on the stairs. Several tomb raiders were trying to force their way past her. At that critical moment, Grandfather Murong shoved her hard, then spread his arms and blocked the middle of the stairs himself.

“Girl, go!”

Seeing that the sealing stone had already closed more than halfway, I quickly threw myself forward and flung out a length of ritual rope. It wrapped around Grandfather Murong’s waist, and I hauled him up.

Boom!

The door sealed completely shut. Grandfather Murong’s shoes had been caught and ripped off, leaving him sitting barefoot on top of the sealing stone, his face ashen.

“Dear God, that was close!

“I nearly got buried in there. Sect Leader, you’ve really got skills.”

Worried that the Corpse Thread Worms might get out, I clutched a talisman and stared tensely at the crack of the door for a long while.

Fortunately, the tomb passage was sealed tight. After a few more screams from below, everything quickly fell silent again.

Murong Yue let out a breath of relief. “Are we going out? The people outside have guns. What do we do?”

“What else can we do? When the people are in trouble, we call the friendly police for help.”

I took out my phone and dialed the emergency number. Once they heard that an imperial tomb from the Han dynasty had been discovered and the tomb raiders were still on site, the police arrived in no time.

Grandfather Murong was positively delighted.

“This is my first time calling the police, and it was from inside a tomb. Tell that story, and who could have more face than me?”

The police quickly subdued the tomb raiders and contacted the cultural relics bureau as well.

Because there were Corpse Thread Worms underground, the archaeological team couldn’t begin work, so I called Hua Yuling over to handle it.

“Hello, Huahua.”

“Qiao Moyu, I was just about to look for you.”

On the other end of the call, Huahua’s voice sounded exhausted.

“I have news about Ji Kang.

“Come with me to Gansu Yardang.”

And that is another story.

End of this arc.